Wednesdays with Wanda

I hope each of you had a wonderful Easter!

I sure did.

I thought a lot about Mom. I still miss her so much. But I had fun carrying on so many Easter traditions that she had done with our family growing up.

And the weather here in the beautiful state of Kentucky was just picturesque. I can only imagine the beauty Mom experienced in Heaven on Easter Morn?

I wanted to share some Easter memories with you.

Looking through some old photos, I found Easter pictures from 1973. I was three years old.

Every year, we would color Easter eggs…

I told you last week how we used to put our baskets outside on the front porch the night before Easter. The Easter bunny would hop down the street and fill them up! When we opened the front door on Easter morning we would find our baskets full of goodies.

Here is my sister, brother, and me setting our baskets out the night before Easter…

(oops! Mom cut your head off, Cyndi!)

Here are my boys finding their Easter baskets this year…

And I found some pictures Dad took of us that Easter morning before church…

Mom and Blake…

Mom and Cyndi…

Mom and me.

The three musketeers…

(I love that Cyndi and I had little white purses!)

As I continued to look through pictures, I found pictures of Easter morning 1974. We are wearing the same outfits!

I found that so funny. And I was quite proud of my mom’s thriftiness!

But this year, Cyndi and I were wearing our Easter corsages. I loved the smell of those corsages!

And it looks like Cyndi got bangs and I got a haircut too.

(Check out my “inch worm” behind Blake. I loved riding that thing!!! I smiled when I saw it in the picture.)

Mom with us all…

And a picture with Daddy….

(oops. Cyndi, Mom cut your head off again! What’s up with that?) :)

I am so glad I found these pictures! It brings back such great memories.

And I loved getting pictures of my family this year.

I have to share a picture of my little stud…

What a blessed day!

And though these Easter traditions are so much fun, Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is the true celebration of that day! What an amazing sacrifice He made on our behalf, and “Oh, how He loves us!” (Click HERE to read my sister’s post about this.)

I wanted to share one more Easter memory of Mom. It is one that has always stuck with me.

I don’t know exactly what year it was, but I was in elementary school.

Mom was our Sunday School teacher at church, and she was always inviting other little children to come with us.

I remember for a while that every Sunday morning we would pick up a little girl across town and take her to church with us. She was probably 5 or 6 years old.

I don’t remember much about our relationship with this family, I just remember that this little girl was very poor and didn’t have much.

Easter Sunday was approaching and this little girl had told Mom that she didn’t have a dress to wear on Sunday morning. (She usually wore jeans and a shirt.)

Mom asked her what kind of dress she would wear if she had one? The little girl said she always wanted a pink dress with lots and lots of ruffles!

(I could see the wheels turning in Mom’s head.)

Mom was an amazing seamstress. She could sew anything. And her mind was set on making this little girl an Easter dress.

Because Mom was always busy and usually did things last minute (just like me), she started making the dress the night before Easter.

I remember going to bed and hearing the whirl of the sewing machine as Mom worked quickly to get the dress sewn before morning.

When I woke up the next morning, I could still hear Mom working on the sewing machine. She was putting the finishing touches on the dress. She had stayed up all night, never sleeping, to finish the dress.

Finally it was finished, and Mom held it up for me to see. It was the most beautiful dress you have ever seen! A beautiful pale pink with 3 or 4 layers of ruffles in the front. I remember touches of white lace on the sleeves and bottom, and it tied with a big pink bow in the back.

Mom quickly got dressed, and we were off to deliver this Easter surprise to the little girl.

Of course, she was so excited, and she ran in the house to put on her new Easter dress! I don’t know who was smiling more…her or Mom. (or me.)

That memory not only made it into my mind, but it made it into my heart as well.

I saw first hand what joy it brings to do things for others.

Mom had sacrificed her sleep and her time to bless this little girl, and I saw first hand the rewards our sacrifices can bring.

Mom showed me how to put the interests of others above my own.

She had always told me to do this, but she also showed me how to do this. Our actions speak so much louder than our words, don’t they?

It is an Easter memory I will never forget, and you can bet that little girl never will either!

Thank you for letting me share the thoughts beneath my heart,

Traci

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